The Twits

Roald Dahl's 1980 children's novel gets its long-awaited film adaptation with an animated tale that takes a light touch with the author's original vile characters. The plot has Mr and Mrs Twit (voiced by Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale) planning to open Twitlandia, an amusement park powered by the magical tears that they force from a family of Muggle-Wumps. Plucky orphan Beesha (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) gets in their way, but the Twits are determined to take over the town. Directed by Zootropolis co-writer Phil Johnston, this expanded version of Dahl's simple, merciless fable gives us some emotional stakes, cutesy heroes and even a hefty dollop of timely political allegory. Unfortunately, the comic grotesquery often takes a backseat to forced messages about family and kindness, resulting in a film that's oddly indistinct. The CG picture-book aesthetic varies in quality, but the voice cast is largely excellent, with Martindale and Vegas especially enthusiastic as the crazed, slapstick villains. The old cliché remains: this is one to watch with younger children present.